British ‘Prey’ a compelling study in good and evil

[...] make that two gripping murder cases, as the series offers two separate storylines linked by location and by the dogged crime-solving presence of Detective Sergeant Susan Reinhardt (Rosie Cavaliero, “Little Dorit”). [...] when she’s not eating to smother her sadness over losing her ex, she’s stalking him. In the first half of the miniseries, a detective in a neighboring community named Marcus Farrow (John Simm, “Life on Mars”) is investigating the discovery of murdered crime boss named Omer Hassan. [...] when he begins to make progress on the case, he goes to visit his two sons who are living with his estranged wife and finds one of the boys dead and his wife dying on the floor with a knife in her chest. Farrow is quickly arrested for the murders, but escapes and begins searching for the real killers while the cops are chasing him. Once again, Sgt. Sue is in pursuit, unsure at first of the reason for Murdoch’s sudden turn to the dark side but determined to bring him in, despite a complete lack of confidence in her from her new boss, DCI Mike Ward (Ralph Ineson, “Game of Thrones”). There’s a slight character-motivation hiccup in how Marcus Farrow reacts after finding his wife and son in the blood-soaked apartment-- what he does simply doesn’t make sense, no matter how much he’s in shock-- but otherwise, Lunt knows the secret to a good plot is good characterizations. David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.